A little worried about this one. After walking in heels for a conference the end of the week, then walking around the race expo all day the day before the race, and hardly getting any sleep for several days, oh and after PRing in an 8k Sunday followed by a 20 miler Monday...yea, just a smidge of worry. I had a nice 1.75 mile warmup to the start, jumped into the corral at the mid 6 min/mi pace section...shame on me. Once the race was started, I realized about 80% of the people in the 6 min/mi pace corral apparently are unaware they do not run 6 min/mi pace...in fact, I wouldn't even say they run 8 min/mi pace. About half a mile in I nearly ripped off my bib and quit because it felt like a joke. I probably have a bad attitude, but I am just ticked because I feel like it's dishonest and rude to line up at a pace you have absolutely zero intention of running. Regardless, I stuck with it. My first mile 6:48, slower than my 8k AP. Then comes the water stop. A girl runs from the left side of the course where they are handing out water directly across the course to the right to get water...just after 1 mile! I ignored the frustration and just kept going, my second mile was 6:40. The crowd at this point has dwindled a bit. Mile 3 felt good even though it was the most difficult (small hills), 6:26! I see the finish line and just try to keep pushing to cross the finish and grab another PR. I was pretty happy about this. 6:26 is my knew 1 mile PR and happened at the end of the race! It goes to show you to stick things out cause you never know what will happen at the end of the race, even if it is short! I KNOW I could have run this faster, but am so happy with this amazing time, so that is a really cool feeling. Plus, it's over a 1 min PR in a 5k for me since December!! Finished with a 1.7 mile cool down. Then hit the Minutemen Bike Path for 10 more miles to fill out my long run. AP 8:03 min/mi which just ended up being a progression run: 9:11, 8:51, 8:36, 8:10, 7:58, 7:43, 7:40, 7:27, 7:35, 7:18. Now I'm ready to cheer on all the marathon runners!! Yay!!! See you at the top of HH. :) | 